Houses promised for Oughterard – but footbridge stalled over pearl mussel

It could be a bridge to far for Oughterard as two major issues regarding the town came to the fore at this week’s meeting of the Conamara Municipal Authority.

A plan for 157 houses to be built by Galway County Council, with a possible input by voluntary Housing Agencies, was met with a mixed reaction by local Councillors.

But following that discussion, the long delay in getting a footbridge installed alongside the notoriously windy and narrow bridge to the western side of Oughterard was met with exasperation.

Municipal Authority chairperson, Councillor Niamh Byrne, who is from Oughterard, said that proposals and talks about the footbridge had been going on for a number of years and that it was past time that some real work took place.

News of the 157 houses was given by Galway County Council Director of Services, Michael Owens.

The location for this proposed major housing development is at the Seanaphéistín road just south of Oughterard. Most of them would be County Council social houses and some would be in what is known as the Affordable Housing category.

The first phase would involve 65 homes; the second phase would be 36 homes and a final phase of 56 units would complete the project.

The proposed housing development – probably the biggest ever social housing scheme west of the Corrib – is in the vicinity of what is known as “Nan Burke’s Field”, a location pinpointed for social housing some years ago.  The plan ran into controversy at that time.

Councillor Byrne said she has chosen to bring this meeting to Oughterard so that there could be a focus on the footbridge issue and she wanted to get to the core of the hold-up.

County Council senior engineer, Damian Mitchell said that Transport Infrastructure Ireland would not commit any money to the project until they were satisfied that the National Parks and Wildlife Service would not object.

He said he understood that ongoing talks between the Council and the National Parks and Wildlife Service were being conducted in a “positive” manner, but he was not party to the talks.

See full story in this week’s Connacht Tribune.